The judges like Timothy Bradley.
Bradley found a champion’s resolve Saturday, surviving punishing attacks by challenger Ruslan Provodnikov to make the first defense of his World Boxing Organization welterweight title at Home Depot Center.
Backed hard to the ropes by Provodnikov’s heavy-handed power and knocked down late in the 12th round, Bradley (30-0) leaned on his boxing fundamentals and toughness to squeeze out a unanimous decision.
Judges Marty Denkin and Jerry Cantu gave Bradley a 114-113 edge and Raul Caiz Sr. scored it 115-112, nine months after Bradley won a highly controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas.
Provodnikov (22-2) belted Bradley with lefts and rights and a hard right in the first appeared to have knocked Bradley down, although referee Pat Russell ruled it a slip. Bradley said he thought he had a concussion.
In the second, Bradley was in big trouble after eating a hard left to the jaw that backed him to the ropes, his legs wobbling.
Instead of finishing the champion, Provodnikov took the third off as Bradley jabbed and regained enough energy to win the round and control an inside-fighting battle in the fourth and fifth rounds.
But the challenger again dazed Bradley with a left to the jaw in the sixth, Bradley retreating to the ropes and throwing punches for show only as Provodnikov sought, but couldn’t produce, the kill against the hard-headed champion.
Bradley reverted to the boxing skill that made him a two-division champion, winning the seventh and eighth rounds with more precision and action.
The two squared off in the center of the ring in an entertaining ninth, Bradley landing two hard rights that opened a cut on Provodnikov’s left eyelid.
“He’s a great warrior,” Bradley said of Provodnikov.
Cathedral City’s Bradley, 29, was fighting for the first time since his controversial win over Manny Pacquiao on June 9.
The layoff grew lengthy because Bradley suffered a sprained ankle and pulled foot tendons in the Pacquiao bout, then rejected overtures for a rematch against Lamont Peterson and a bout against lighter Yuriorkis Gamboa in the interim.
In another welterweight bout, Jessie Vargas of Las Vegas (22-0) earned a unanimous decision over Wale Omotoso that appeared closer than the scores by judges Jonathan Davis and Fritz Werner (96-93 each) and Gwen Adair (97-92).
In the fifth, Vargas unloaded some hard rights that had Omotoso (23-1) in deep trouble, as he backed up and appeared ready to fall after another hard combination.
Three prospects used the undercard to boost their resume.
Mexico’s Oscar Valdez (4-0, three KOs) battered Bell’s Carlos Gonzalez throughout before a final barrage won him a technical knockout 58 seconds into the fourth round.
Indio featherweight prospect Gabino Saenz improved to 9-0-1 with a second-round knockout of Phoenix’s Cesar Valenzuela (4-2-1). It was Saenz’s eighth knockout.
Las Vegas’ Jessie Magdaleno (14-0, 10 KOs) continued his rise with a third-round knockout of Carlos Fulgencio (18-10-1) of the Dominican Republic.
